EC-K1: Awareness of the basic developmental stages within domains of motor, cognitive, communication, and social-emotional development for infants and young children ages birth to 5.

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Introduction

This unit will provide basic information for understanding typical childhood development. Two key concepts of early development are that all children are capable of growth and that most development occurs in a predictable sequence. In addition to understanding the concept that development occurs sequentially, it is important to know that developmental domains – that is, changing aspects of a child – are interrelated. For example, a child’s cognitive development will most likely affect his or her ability to communicate with others. Similarly, a child's motor development, or ability to independently explore the environment, may impact cognitive, communication, and social skill development.

Another important point to understand is that as children get older, developmental skills become more differentiated. Development is generally expressed through physical growth and maturity in an infant. As a result, reaching for a toy may be viewed as a motor skill, as a cognitive skill (the infant is aware of and remembers objects), and as a social-emotional skill (the infant interacts with and plays in the environment because it is enjoyable to do so). As children age, development within and across domains becomes more complex. For example, when children skip motor development occurs. The development of skills such as problem-solving indicates cognitive development; speaking in sentences is a function of language development; and engaging in pretend-play with friends indicates social-emotional development.

Objectives

As you read the objectives for this unit, think about and rate your current knowledge using the following scale.

1. I do not understand this.
2. I do understand this.
3. I understand this well enough to use in my work.
4. I could teach others about it and use it in my work.

• Demonstrate a broad base of knowledge on the principles of child development.
• Recognize characteristics of the developmental domains: cognitive, motor, communication, social-emotional, and adaptive behavior.

The Para eLink is sponsored by the Minnesota Paraprofessional Consortium, in collaboration with the Minnesota Department of Education, located at the Institute on Community Integration in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota.

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